Latest / Loud & Lifted / Living and Leading with Intention: Grit, Grace & a Game Plan with Julia Arpag

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Living and Leading with Intention: Grit, Grace & a Game Plan with Julia Arpag · Loud & Lifted

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Welcome to Loud and Lifted, the podcast where
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we don't just talk about women supporting women,
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we dig into the real stories behind the strength,
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the scars, and the sass. I'm your host, Betsy
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Hamm, and today I'm excited to chat with Julia
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Arpegg. Julia is the dynamic founder and CEO
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of Aligned Recruitment. Julia transformed a challenging
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setback into a thriving, values -driven tech
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recruitment firm. She's continued to scale all
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while staying true to her values of integrity,
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faith, and service. We're going to dig into Julia's
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journey from uncertainty to entrepreneurial success,
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offering insights and building a business that
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aligns with personal values. Whether you're an
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aspiring entrepreneur or navigating career transitions,
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Julia's story is a testament to resilience and
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purpose driven leadership. Let's get loud and
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left with the unstoppable Julia. Thank you so
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much for being here. Thank you, Betsy. I'm so
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excited to be here. Thank you for having me.
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My gosh. You have a few things going on, so I
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love that you still take time to have an amazing
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LinkedIn schedule of posts, but then also do
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podcasts. I don't know how you do all of it.
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It's my pleasure. Honestly, this stuff is fun.
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I love it. I'm happy to be here. Nice. Well,
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I'm sure any podcast you do starts with your
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story of the shock of how you got into your current
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career. So if you want to take us back a few
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years to how you decided to go from a steady
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job working for another company to starting your
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own thing. Oh my gosh. Yeah, no, my story is
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a crazy one. I was laid off five weeks postpartum
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with my fourth son. So I have two foster sons
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who are 14 and 15. They moved in when I was six
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months pregnant with my first biological son.
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And then my second biological son was born in
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July of 2023. So we just have to make sure that
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people caught on to that. You were six months
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pregnant with your first baby. And you decided
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to foster two, what were they probably? They
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were 10 and 11. Yeah. So you went like from a
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quiet house Zero to three overnight and actually
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they're older so they have a half sister who
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lived with us for a year too So yeah, we had
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it was crazy. I'm not gonna lie to you. It was
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crazy If I'd known I think God intentionally
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doesn't show us the future because we'd all be
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too afraid if we But you we just felt like oh
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my gosh, there are kids out there who need homes
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Obviously older kids are really hard to find
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homes for so it just broke our hearts So yeah,
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we opened up our home. I got real crazy real
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fast So then fast forward to 2023, we've had
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those three boys, my first biological son and
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our two foster sons for about two and a half
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years. Then we have our fourth son. And then
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I get laid off five weeks later. My CEO, I really
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don't hold this against him because he called
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me and he was like, listen, like I'm laying off
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the entire team. I haven't paid myself a salary
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in months. Like he's like, there's just no money.
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Like I, I can't conjure money out of thin air.
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So I truly like do not hold it against him. Like
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I'm not mad at him, but it was like, your timing
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could have been a little different. Yeah. I was
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definitely like, okay, this puts me in a tough
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situation. The good news is though, I had already
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been for about a year considering what it would
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look like to go out on my own because recruitment,
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you would, you can do it from anywhere. If you
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have the people skills, you can you can be very
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successful. And I had been very successful. I've
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been a tech recruiter for about six years now,
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six, seven, something like that. And so I was
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like, I could do this. Like I could totally,
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I've been the top performer and every time I've
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been on, I was like, I got this. So I was already
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thinking about it, but then he laid me off and
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I was like, okay, now seems like a good moment,
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but it also seems like a scary moment because
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I was like, wait, like I kind of like having
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a salary. Like that's nice. Yeah. Right. So a
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couple of my former clients actually reached
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out when they heard I got laid off and they offered
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me jobs at their companies, which was awesome.
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So I actually took one. I literally took one
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and I was like, great. Thank you. Yep. Done.
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But my former co -founder also offered me, you
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know, she was like, just, just come help me build
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a line to recruitment five hours a week. Nothing
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crazy. Just need your expertise. Almost like
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more on an advisory capacity. I was like, sure.
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That sounds great. No problem. we get like a
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month in and I'm like, oh my gosh, this is so
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much fun. Like I would way rather run my own
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business and not work for someone else. So I
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told that client whose job I had accepted, I'm
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so sorry, but I've just got to move forward with
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this. And he was like, no problem. Let me become
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your next client. So they literally became, we
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had two clients by then he became our third client.
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So it was such an incredible transition. I could
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not have asked for it to go better. And then
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even better, honestly, about gosh, eight months
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later, I bought out my former co founder, because
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again, I, I, we just came from different worlds,
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right? Like she was strong operationally, but
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I knew recruitment, I learned sales, I brought
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in 99 % of our revenue. And I was like, I don't,
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no offense, I don't really need you. I can just
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go out and do this on my own. So she's been gone
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for about a year and I totally stand by that
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decision. It's been such a blast. So yeah, that's
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what brings us to current day. We've been running
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the business for about 20 months and we're just
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at about a million in revenue. So I'm very grateful,
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very excited. Amazing, in less than two years.
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Less than two years, yeah. That's wild. And how
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confident were you in your decision? Or was it
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that it just kind of continued to build that
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you're like, okay, this is picking up steam or
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were there moments where you're like, Oh my gosh,
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what am I doing? I have four mouths to feed.
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Oh, yeah, for sure. So yeah, like I said, I was
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so unconfident in the decision at first that
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I thought I would just do it a couple hours a
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week and have a full time job on this, like in
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addition to doing this on the side. So definitely
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unsure initially, when we hit such early traction,
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though, And I was hitting my financial goals
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basically immediately. I was like, Oh, maybe
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I can actually do this. And so that confidence
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has grown as I've shown myself what I'm capable
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of. So obviously, there's two months that have
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lower revenue than other months. So those months
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are scary. But I keep coming back to I know I
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can do this. I have the track record to prove
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it. I know God is with me. And whatever that
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looks like, right? I'm very open -handed in my
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life. I'm like, if God continues to bless the
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business, awesome, we'll keep going in this direction.
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If not, great, I'll follow him in a different
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direction. But it's been a very stretching experience
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not having that stable income and really having
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to fight for it every month. It's made me even
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more intense than I was before, to be honest.
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which I didn't think was possible. You didn't
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think you needed to do? Yeah, yeah. So I honestly,
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whenever I am like, man, this is tough, my executive
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coach and I laugh about. Sometimes we both just
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longingly look at the people who work at Trader
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Joe's like bagging groceries. And we're like,
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they're so happy. That'd be an awesome job. And
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they're always happy every time I've ever been
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at Trader Joe's. Right. And I'm sure they get
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huge discounts on those amazing like peanut butter
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cups. Like y 'all have got it made. So there
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are moments like that where I'm like, there are
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easier paths to this. Ultimately, I value freedom
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and flexibility so much that that has really
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been my driver in the two years I've run the
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business. Was it hard to have that switch from
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like the employee mindset, right? To being the
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boss, the entrepreneur, responsible for other
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people? I mean, how was that shift of a mindset?
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I did a ton of mindset work, like a crazy amount.
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So I had a lot of fear. I was like, man, I have
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no, I've never sold a thing ever, ever. Not one
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thing to anyone ever. So I was like, the only
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way I'm going to make money is if I sell my recruitment
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services and get people to buy them. Like, it's
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so easy to hire someone. You're like, hello,
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would you like $200 ,000 to do a job for this
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person? They're like, yes, I would. That's so
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easy. Sales, like going to a company and saying,
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hey, can you please give me? thousands of dollars
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to fill this role for you. That's a whole different
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ballgame. So I was terrified. I was very nervous.
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So I did a lot of mindset work around confidence
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and my value and my worth and my ability and
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the abundance mindset. Like just the belief that
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there is so much opportunity and I'm just going
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to walk into it. Like I don't have to go fight
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for scraps. I'm going to have more than enough.
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So really that shift was what I had to do to
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be successful. I love that. And so when you say
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mindset work, like what does that entail? Like
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what did that look like for you? So I found a
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bunch of affirmation recordings on Spotify and
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stuff like that. But a lot of them, I would resonate
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with like four or five of the statements and
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not the others. So I recorded my own. Like I
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took my favorites from a bunch of different affirmations.
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I literally recorded myself saying them. And
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I paid a guy on Fiverr like 20 bucks to set it
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to like meditation music. And every morning it's
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a 17 minute recording. Every single morning I
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listen to it while I do my makeup. And you still
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do this? Yeah, girl. I thought two years into
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like, yeah, I got this. I don't need to be. Oh
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my gosh. No mindset is every day and you keep
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leveling up right like right now I have a team
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of six. So it's very different to run a team
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than to be a solopreneur. It's very different
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to be a co founder than to be a sole CEO like
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every new level up I've done for the past two
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years has required more affirmations more mindset
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shifts more like right now I'm reading the book
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10x is easier than 2x like I keep 10x saying
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every like month basically so I have to keep
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Re retraining my brain and re coaching myself.
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That's amazing. And you just mentioned a book
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I was gonna ask is there any other tools or anything
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else you did beside the affirmation to help move
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you forward? Yeah, I'm a voracious reader. So
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I read minimum probably four bucks some four
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bucks a month Do you sleep because I'm catching
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Like do you sleep like I sleep a comical amount
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we can walk through my schedule in a second a
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lot. My friends all make fun of me because on
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Amazon, there's this banner that says, thanks
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for coming. Please leave by nine. That is literally
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my energy. Every time we host people, we kick
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them out of our house at nine o 'clock. I'll
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start brushing my teeth and be like, bye. I'm
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just like, nope, you're done. So yeah, I sleep
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a lot. Yes, I hear you. So another book I read
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that was very impactful, it's called The Ruthless
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Elimination of Hurry. And the idea is basically,
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We feel so rushed and so hurried because we're
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letting our phones fill every single spare minute
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of our day. have my phone in the other room as
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often as I can. I need it for a lot of the work
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I do. So it's not always realistic for it to
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not be with me. But when I log off at the end
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of the day, I put it in another room. When I
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sleep, it's in another room. I'm really trying
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to train myself to not check my phone between
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every activity I do because that really is a
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time stack. So I just have a handful of priorities
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every day. And I just do them. Well, let's talk
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about that because I think you have to have a
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good schedule and must be time management and
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you still are taking care of yourself and you're
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like taking care of your business, your kids.
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So talk us through how, and I hate saying I never
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use the word balance because balance isn't real
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because that would mean everything's even and
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equal and that's not life. So how do you handle
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all of the priorities that you have? Yeah, right.
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Well, I never said I maintain my sanity. But
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I hear you like, how am I still here? Right?
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Yeah. So I have gone through so many iterations
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of my schedule. So we're two years in. I'll probably
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if we do this podcast again in six months, I'll
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probably have a different answer for you. So
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I've gone through iterations where I woke up
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at 430 every morning. That worked for about six
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months until I got so exhausted. I couldn't do
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it anymore. I've gone through iterations where
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I've worked like 10 hours a day. That didn't
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work. I have four kids. Right now, I'm in an
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iteration where I sleep until my kids wake up,
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which is usually 530 in the morning, so I'm still
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waking up pretty early. But my littles get up
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around 530, my one and four year old. So we get
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up, we play, we hang out. They both go to a Montessori
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day school. So I get them up, get them out the
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house, my husband drops them off at eight. And
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then from eight to 10 is my me time. So from
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eight to nine, I work out. From nine to 10, I
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spend time with God. And then at 10, I hit the
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ground running with my work day. And my work
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day entails my number one priority. So like you
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said, LinkedIn marketing has been very effective
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for my business. So I make sure I put up a LinkedIn
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post every day. I make sure to send 15 sales
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touches per day just to make sure I'm keeping
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my pipeline going. I make sure that I'm interviewing
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at least three, two to four, let's say two to
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four candidates per day just to keep my pipelines
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running. I do have recruiters and sources on
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my team as well. But for my personal desk, I
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make sure I always have interviews every day.
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And then I time block like Mondays are for internal
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team meetings. Wednesdays are for client meetings.
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Tuesdays and Thursdays are for heads down work
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time and ad hoc sales calls. And then Fridays
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are for fun stuff like this, like podcasts, networking
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events, stuff like that. So by chunking out not
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only my hours, but also my days, that helps me
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actually focus on one kind of set of calls or
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responsibilities for that day. And then something
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I've just started doing the past couple of weeks
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is I log off at three. So I now only work 25
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hours a week. And the reason that's worked so
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far is number one, I have a great team. Number
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two, I flex that as needed. Like luckily I have
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flexibility. My kids can stay at school till
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five if need be. So I have that option if something
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does run late. But I think having that boundary
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makes it so I am ruthless with my prioritization.
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Like if I only have five hours a day to work,
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again, not checking my phone between stuff. I
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have a clear to do list where I'm like, these
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are the must do priorities today. And I just
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bang it out. I just go from thing to thing to
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thing to thing. So you are super intentional
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about every hour literally of your week. Yes.
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And what happens if you fall off your schedule?
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I'm like, God dang it. I'm obviously disappointed,
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right? Yeah, and I had this perfect schedule.
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How am I going to stay on it? Like yesterday,
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for example, I went up to Atlanta. I live in
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the suburbs outside Atlanta. So I went up to
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the city to meet with a client. We had lunch.
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It was a good time. But obviously that eats up
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several hours of my day. So I didn't have time
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to do my typical sales activities or my typical
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candidate screening activities. So I'm like...
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that's okay. Like not ideal. But I'll get those
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I'll get those in another day. So basically,
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I've tried to have the mentality of I'm in a
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unique position. I'll be honest, I don't know
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any other recruitment or any founders in general,
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who have biological little kids, older foster
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kids, run their own business, like I don't know
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anyone else who's doing all these things. So
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I don't really have a mentor or an example to
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look up to. So I've just really had to be really
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intentional with myself with my walk with God.
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Like I asked God a couple weeks ago in our prayer
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time, I was like, what would you have me do with
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my business? Like I was very open handed. I was
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like, in general, what would you have me do?
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And clear as day, I've just felt this sense of
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log off at three. That's why I started doing
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this. And I was like, no, literally, I didn't
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do it, Betsy. I was like, that's ridiculous.
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That's absurd. No, I'm not doing that. And then
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two weeks later, I was reading a devotional by
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a Christian entrepreneur. And she was just like,
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is there something God has called you to do in
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your business that he knows he's called you to
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do that you're not doing? Yep, 100%. Oh, that's
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wild. So I just, I literally just started doing
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this like maybe two weeks ago, the laundry thing.
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And so I've really had a let go of if there were
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things that I wanted to get done that day that
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I didn't like just trusting that I'm walking
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in obedience and I'm doing what God told me to
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do. And then, like I said earlier, the favor
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will come and whatever that looks like, I accept
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that. And I'm very grateful for the clarity of
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there's no one to tell me how to do this. So
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I have to tell myself how to do it and I have
15:55
to listen to God as I do it. And then I have
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to ruthlessly execute on that clarity that I
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receive. And I love, I love the boundaries piece
16:02
because I think especially if you work from home,
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right? It's really easy. Oh, even home technology,
16:07
whatever it is, it's so easy for everything to
16:09
be so blurred and meshed together that we're
16:12
multitasking to like a painful point where sometimes
16:15
you're like, Oh my gosh, am I paying attention
16:17
to anything that's going on, whether it's work
16:19
or your family life. I used to think I was really
16:23
good at multitasking, but now I think it's a
16:25
negative thing. No one's good at multitasking.
16:26
Yeah. It's not a thing. It's not a thing. Yes.
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We can only do a bunch of things badly. We cannot
16:32
successfully multitask. Yeah, yeah, because you
16:35
just don't give it everything you have or your
16:37
full attention. And yeah, I've caught myself
16:39
doing that, especially when my kids were younger,
16:41
like you notice when they're trying to do something
16:43
or play and now they're on their phones too much
16:46
that they're older, but it's like just being
16:48
present and being intentional about how you're
16:50
spending time. It does make sense that you can
16:52
shrink down your work week or make sure you're
16:55
present with your kids. So I think that's great
16:57
advice. And I'm sure you have days where it probably
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gets a little off track and there's always a
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next day. Then I just get back on. Yep, exactly.
17:05
That's interesting. Let's talk about your why,
17:07
because this is very cool to me. When you start
17:10
your own company, you obviously get to make it
17:12
that's around you and your values. And you have
17:15
this front and center on your website, which
17:17
I love. So talk to us about your why. Yeah, yeah,
17:21
I actually have a page on my website literally
17:23
that says our mission and I go into I'm very
17:26
transparent about my faith. I'm very transparent
17:28
that I'm a faith filled entrepreneur that everything
17:30
I do in my life is because of my faith. And I'm
17:33
a very mission oriented person. So like I said,
17:36
we've been foster parents for four and a half
17:37
years. That is something that has been radically
17:40
important to me even before I married my husband.
17:43
I just couldn't believe there were hundreds of
17:45
1000s of kids who needed homes and the vast majority
17:48
of people aren't willing to give them the spare
17:50
room they already have in their house. Like that
17:52
just blew my mind. So the moment he and I bought
17:54
a house and actually had space for kids, we started
17:57
the process to get certified. So my goal with
17:59
being so transparent about our story is. Number
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one, I think people think it's like an out there
18:05
problem. It's not it's a right here problem.
18:07
And number two, I want to be clear that you can
18:09
be a profit driven entrepreneur, you can be a
18:12
for profit company, and use your money to serve
18:16
in some philanthropic way, and make that something
18:20
you discuss openly. So I'm very transparent on
18:22
my website, I talk about our experiences, foster
18:24
parents, and then we've also started a ministry
18:27
where We do health projects for single foster
18:30
moms. We provide meals for foster families. We
18:34
have a 15 passenger van because we're a big road
18:36
trip family. So we load up like a dozen moms
18:40
and drive them down to Florida for this annual
18:42
foster adoptive moms retreat. Like there's all
18:44
these things we do because The reason a lot of
18:47
people don't do this is because I think it sounds
18:48
so scary. Like, oh my God, you want kids from
18:50
hard places to like live in my house? Like, no,
18:52
that's too hard. So we do everything we can to
18:54
empower the people that have said yes to this
18:56
really hard thing. We lead a weekly small group
18:59
in our home on Wednesday nights. They were just
19:00
here two days ago and we just all sit out and
19:04
have a glass of wine or a glass of whiskey and
19:07
we just chat. We're just like, what's good? What's
19:10
bad? What's hard? What's ugly? How can we help?
19:12
What do you need? What's going on? And then we
19:13
just fill those needs as we can. That is amazing.
19:16
And again, back to like, are you sure you sleep?
19:20
Like you didn't put that into your weekly schedule.
19:22
I know, right? Well, I never got past three o
19:25
'clock. So past three o 'clock is like this fun
19:27
stuff, right? Like getting to hang out with my
19:28
family, getting to have people over, getting
19:30
to do this kind of service. So yeah. That's amazing.
19:32
And we were talking earlier, the fact that you
19:35
have teenagers and you have little ones. I mean,
19:38
you're in two different worlds, like the need
19:40
and the expectations and their schedule and the
19:42
time and what... they have a need from you from
19:45
a relation standpoint. I mean, that's, that's
19:47
a lot to be able to have to focus on two different
19:50
worlds of kid age. I appreciate that. Yeah. And
19:53
it is different because Our littles go to bed
19:56
at 7, 7 .30. My four -year -old's getting pushy
19:59
about bedtime. So 7 .30, 8, 8. Whatever, I can
20:03
get them down. So then we do have some time with
20:06
just the bigs to kind of check in. To your point,
20:08
they'd typically rather play video games or be
20:10
on their phones or go to their friend's houses.
20:12
But we do have that chance to just kind of like
20:14
check in with each age group of the home. And
20:18
then like I was saying earlier, we... We are,
20:21
I am so intense about my sleep. Like I know that
20:24
there's no chance for me to be the person I want
20:26
to be if I don't sleep. So our big stay up later
20:29
than us. Like I'm in bed by nine o 'clock, nine
20:31
or nine 30 every single night. and we let them
20:35
stay up. They don't have a bedtime, right? They
20:37
just have to be off their devices, but they can
20:38
stay up. I don't care if you're up all night,
20:40
as long as you're reading a book or going to
20:42
school. I don't care. Yeah, whatever. So that
20:45
was a shift. When they first moved in, when they
20:48
were 10 and 11, we were like, you have to go
20:50
to bed at nine because we have to go to bed at
20:51
nine. But now that they're older, we're like,
20:53
okay, you do you, but we're going to go to bed.
20:56
So that's how we've made it all work, to be honest.
20:59
So I think you personally have a great value
21:01
system and you're living what you believe and,
21:04
and, and being able to do it professionally and
21:06
personally. So how do you instill that into your
21:09
kids, whether it's the littles or the bigs, how
21:11
do you make sure that they understand that? And
21:14
it's obviously different in different ages, but
21:15
how do you, how are you instilling into the boys?
21:17
Oh my gosh, that's such a good question. I think
21:18
about this every single day. So the bigs, they
21:21
came from a really hard background. Obviously
21:23
you don't end up in foster care because you have
21:25
model citizen parents, right? So they, the Themselves
21:30
need so much that I've really balanced like like
21:33
emotionally right like they're very emotionally
21:36
Broken to be honest by what happened to them.
21:38
So I'm like, okay How much do I press into like
21:41
discipling you and and showing you like now that
21:44
you've? Come out of your trauma a little bit
21:47
like obviously it's a lifelong healing process
21:48
But you're in a different place than you were
21:50
before you went into foster care What can I do
21:52
to help empower you to serve other people? Balancing
21:55
that with like they still have to do a lot of
21:57
healing. So one way we figured out to do that
22:00
And this is an imperfect system, but we have
22:02
compassion international kids. So it's basically
22:05
a program where kids who live overseas and don't
22:07
have financial resources, you can become like
22:09
their pen pal and like their buddy. So we send
22:13
the it's like a monthly amount that you send
22:14
us to make sure you can cover basic necessities
22:16
and then you write them letters. So our two boys
22:20
have they each have like their own little pen
22:22
pal and they just like write letters back and
22:23
forth. So that's one way just to kind of show
22:26
them like, yes, you have not had a great hand
22:29
of cards dealt to you but neither have these
22:31
kids and like this is the way that we can serve
22:33
these people so that's one way and then the other
22:36
way honestly is they especially the 15 year old
22:39
he is so compassionate and kind like he comes
22:45
home all the time and tells me stories he's very
22:47
outgoing he's very well liked he's very popular
22:49
He tells me stories of hanging out with the kid
22:52
in his class who has autism or the kid in his
22:55
class who's in a wheelchair. Like he's very intentional
22:57
about that. One of his best friends, a good friend
23:01
of our family, one of their boys has autism and
23:03
he's the same age as our foster sons. He calls
23:06
him one of his best friends. Like our foster
23:07
son is like, oh yeah, I love him. Like, and he's
23:10
not, he's not like, oh, but he's kind of weird.
23:12
He's like, no, like he appreciates people for
23:14
who they are. I think that's huge. Like I've
23:17
really seen that just. kind of make compassion
23:21
their own and in their context be something that
23:23
they value. For my littles, my one -year -old's
23:27
a freaking lunatic, so I have no idea. You have
23:29
to have at least one. I'm just trying to keep
23:31
him alive, honestly. My four -year -old is also
23:36
extremely thoughtful. I've noticed he's very
23:39
much in the phase of really trying to understand.
23:41
He used to ask why just because kids ask why,
23:43
and now he asks why because he really is like,
23:45
wait, what's going on there? What's happening
23:47
there? Like, for example, being so close to Atlanta,
23:50
we have a bunch of people who are homeless who
23:52
live in Atlanta. So we drive around. My husband
23:55
packed hundreds of bags that have food, information
23:59
about local resources, water bottles, cleaning
24:02
supplies, toothbrushes, whatever. So we just
24:04
keep those in our cars. And so whenever we pass
24:06
someone, we're like, hey, would you like this
24:09
bag? So my son sees us do that. So he's like,
24:11
oh, why is that man there? What's the screw here?
24:15
So we just explain. We just want him to understand,
24:18
Not everyone has the same resources. Not everyone
24:20
has the same access. So those of us who have
24:22
more than enough, we support those who have less
24:25
than enough. And then the goal is as much as
24:28
possible level in the playing field and whatever
24:29
ways we can. So those kind of like - Absolutely.
24:32
Just being a good example. Yeah. And that's things
24:34
even up. maybe not one, but at four, he can understand.
24:38
And so I think starts to plant seeds as they
24:40
grow of supporting and taking care of the people
24:42
and helping however you can. So that's awesome.
24:44
Yeah. That's very cool. You talk about the faith,
24:46
your values, like do you have any advice for
24:48
women who maybe it's a little bit harder if you're
24:51
in a big company, but how do you hold true to
24:53
yourself if you have any advice for women how
24:56
to do that? I do. Yeah. So for my whole career,
24:59
prior to this moment, I worked for other people
25:02
who didn't share my same values, right? So I
25:04
definitely have thought about that a lot as an
25:06
employee. As far as I know, I've been the only
25:09
Christian in a lot of the teams I've been on,
25:11
and I've been the only foster parent, I think,
25:14
at every company I worked at before. Good chance.
25:17
Right? Like shocker, right? No one does this.
25:20
But I think for me, I've just always been very
25:23
honest. I've never hidden who I am, but I've
25:27
also been respectful. So now I have to do a ton
25:31
of personal marketing and personal branding to
25:33
sell, but I didn't before. So I wasn't like,
25:37
you know. shouting from the rooftops. I'm a Christian
25:39
and a foster parent, everyone to do this. Now
25:41
I tell my story because it's just part of my
25:43
story as a business owner. But basically, I just
25:45
have always tried to be very relational. One
25:48
of the offices I used to work at, I had to be
25:50
in office four days a week, which drove me crazy.
25:52
I'm a huge fan of remote work. I thought that
25:54
was the dumbest policy ever. But I did it. And
25:57
I put verses up on my wall like Bible verses
25:59
to remind me like I am a child of God. My first
26:05
priority is not to be your employee, not even
26:07
to be a wife or a mom. My first priority is my
26:10
obedience to God, just to remind me, no matter
26:12
how stupid I think this rule is, I am to act
26:16
with excellence, integrity, honor, kindness,
26:18
goodness, grace, all those kinds of ideas. So
26:21
I think no matter what your values are, they're
26:23
more about how you act, not about what you say.
26:26
So it's always possible to infuse your work with
26:29
the character values that matter to you. That's
26:32
great advice. That's a great point. So I have
26:34
to ask you as a recruiter that you've spent years
26:37
of your life doing, what do you see that women
26:39
can do better when they're going for another
26:41
job or trying to change a career? So is there
26:43
anything that you see that you're like, wow,
26:45
and I don't know how much. you're dealing with
26:46
women in tech. I can be super stereotypical and
26:48
assume it's a lot of male in the tech industry,
26:51
but just as a recruiter, what do you see? Yeah,
26:54
I would, I would have to look back at my numbers
26:56
to pull this for sure, but I really think about
26:58
50 % of the candidates we've placed have been
27:01
female. So that is a very relevant question.
27:03
It takes some digging on our part, right? Like
27:06
sometimes I tell my sourcing team, like for this
27:09
week, let's only focus on female candidates because
27:11
to your point, male candidates are much more.
27:14
uh, present in tech. Uh, but, but I think my
27:18
best advice for a woman looking for a job is
27:22
do your research, like find out what the worth
27:24
is of the job that you're going after and ask
27:28
for it. Like that is for me, that's a non -negotiable.
27:34
Like I, I hate when I see people and I get it.
27:38
If you're, if you've been laid off and it's been
27:40
six months and you just have to keep the lights
27:42
on in your house, like, Okay, that's a different
27:45
situation. But if you're in a position where
27:49
you can ask for top dollar, do ask for top dollar.
27:53
And then even when they offer it to you at the
27:55
end, I would ask for more personally. Honestly,
27:59
that's what I always did as an employee. Like
28:01
whatever offer they came to me with, I was like,
28:02
awesome. And then I would ask for typically like
28:05
10 % more on the offer they gave me. I never
28:07
got it, but I would get like 5 % more or 3 %
28:11
more, right? So like, there's no reason not to
28:14
ask. And if you do it respectfully and kindly,
28:16
even if they say no, there's no negative to that,
28:19
right? You don't know if you don't ask. My favorite
28:21
sentence is don't say their no for them. So always
28:24
ask, always put it out there. Always try. If
28:27
they say no, who cares? You're in the same position
28:29
you were anyway. But if they say yes, you're
28:32
in a way better position. And sometimes it's
28:34
just on the approach, right? Like me being in
28:36
the The ceo end in the past and people negotiated.
28:39
I learned a lot by how others negotiated good
28:41
and bad But you know there was it to your point.
28:44
I ask and you can be I don't want to say casual
28:46
about it, but you can have a great approach about
28:48
it that you're not feeling like you're attacking
28:51
the company or the HR person. So, you know, I
28:53
think a lot of times it's just the positioning,
28:55
the approach, this is my value. And hey, if I
28:57
get five percent, I asked for 10, I wanted five,
28:59
that's better than zero. But I do love the fact
29:02
that you have to ask because I realized actually
29:04
how terrible I am at negotiating on the other
29:07
side of the table through the years. I'm like,
29:09
man, I should have. definitely pushed back every
29:11
time. I'd be like, okay. And I'd be like, okay,
29:14
great. Thanks. You know, that was sort of a response.
29:16
Like I was grateful or thankful. I don't know.
29:20
So yeah, I realized through the years, I definitely
29:22
could have been a better negotiator, especially
29:24
in those early days where it was just, you didn't
29:26
know. You didn't know better and thought what
29:28
they offered was it. And that's certainly not
29:31
the case. And the best book I've ever read on
29:34
negotiation is Never Split the Difference by
29:36
Chris Voss. He was an FBI hostage negotiator.
29:40
So he's coming from the freaking trenches. Oh,
29:42
gosh. But it applies so well to business. I read
29:45
that entire book in a weekend because I was like,
29:48
this is going to change my life and my business.
29:50
That's how I bought out my former partner. That's
29:52
how I've negotiated all my client contracts.
29:54
That's how I've negotiated all the employees
29:56
I've brought on my team. Whenever one of my candidates
29:58
does negotiate the offer, I give them free. another
30:00
client, I that book helps me have that conversation.
30:03
So if you if anyone listening to this feels like
30:06
you or they're like, I'm just not good at that,
30:07
like, okay, learn. Right? Do I'm literally gonna
30:11
order that? Yeah, we are literally about to like
30:13
go order. It's fantastic. Yeah. Could always
30:16
improve a negotiation. Yeah. That's awesome.
30:19
I feel like we could get advice from you for
30:21
the next couple of hours, but we know you have
30:23
a schedule to keep. So any other last advice,
30:27
parting words? I think you are just doing so
30:29
many amazing things personally and professionally,
30:32
so congrats to you. But any other parting advice
30:35
for our listeners? Thank you, Betsy. Yeah, I
30:37
just think the number one thing you have to do
30:39
before you execute is you've got to get clarity.
30:41
So something I do, I didn't even mention this,
30:43
but I also have a once a month calendar block
30:46
where it's just my monthly reflection and planning.
30:49
And so I have to have time to be quiet and just
30:51
be like, okay, what do I need in this next month?
30:54
What does my business need? What does my family
30:56
need? What does my husband need? You cannot live
31:00
a thoughtful life if you don't have time to think.
31:02
So you have to give yourself time to think before
31:05
you can execute. That is amazing advice. That's
31:08
going to be one of our highlights. I know it.
31:10
That's so awesome. Julia, thank you so much for
31:12
being here. And if you could come over and help
31:16
me schedule out my next couple of weeks, that
31:18
would be awesome. I love your blocks every day.
31:21
So thank you. Thank you so much for being here.
31:23
Huge thanks to Julia for showing us what it looks
31:25
like to turn rock bottom into a launch pad. For
31:28
reminding us that power doesn't come from titles.
31:30
It comes from knowing who you are, what you value
31:33
and not apologizing for either. She's proof that
31:35
you can raise babies and raise the bar. You can
31:38
pray, profit, protect your peace and still be
31:40
one of the fiercest ones in the room. If you
31:43
love this episode, share it with a friend who
31:44
needs a little push, a little pep and a little
31:46
permission to design a life she actually wants.
31:49
Until next time, stay loud, stay lifted and stay
31:52
true to who you are.